Southern IPM blog posts

Funded by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

The Southern Region IPM Center is located at North Carolina State University, 1730 Varsity Drive, Suite 110, Raleigh, NC 27606, and is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Auburn University researcher Austin Hagan explains that researchers are finding options to deal with target spot, which will be helpful for cotton growers in south Alabama, where disease pressure is highest. Southeast Farm Press discusses some of his findings, which he explains during a field day in Headland, AL.

Many questions remain about how to treat target spot on cotton, but researchers do know that under the right conditions, it can lead to significant yield losses.

Researchers trying to gain a better understanding of declines in bee populations have found higher concentrations of neonicotinoid insecticides in the foliage of wild flowers located along field borders than they expected.

That’s where many Extension agents and consultants feel they’re stuck as far as target spot on cotton in Georgia.

“As Extension specialists, agents and consultants, this is really where we are,” said University of Georgia Extension plant pathologist Bob Kemerait, speaking at the recent Beltwide Cotton Conferences in New Orleans.

For years, the boll weevil was public enemy No. 1 for Tennessee cotton farmers. The boll weevil is gone thanks to the hard work of cotton growers and research scientists. But the malathion sprays that took out the boll weevil and plant bugs are gone as well, creating an environment where plant bugs have become a major problem. The University of Tennessee’s Sandy Steckel talked about the current efforts to control the latter during a stop on the Cotton Tour at the West Tennessee Research and Education Center.

Even the best made and implemented weed management strategies can fall short of the glory of perfect, clean fields come summer. And Palmer amaranth will take advantage where it can. As you look over the cotton field now, you see them getting bigger by the day. If all else fails, best go manhandle them out of there and keep a bad thing from getting worse next year.